Tax stamp printing device



Aug. 24, 1937.

J. A. STROTHER ET AL TAX STAMP PRINTI'N'G DEVICE Filed June 4, 1936 4Sheets Sheet 1 INVENTORj John A,strother.

Wallmm FzBernartJ'r.

HH IJIII IIEI.

mlrl

m fl ATTORNEY- Aug. 24, 1937. J, STRQTHER ET AL 2,090,919

TAX STAMP PRINTING DEVICE Filed June 4, 1936 I 4 Sheets-sheaf 2INVENTORS. John A. Strot/ml; W/H/a m F. Berna/16,3!

A TTORNEY.

Aug. 24, 1937. J. A. STROTHER ET AL ,9

TAX STAMP PRINTING DEVICE Filed June 4, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORSJohn A. Strother. W/II/ an; F? Berna/'6, Tn

ATTORNEY.

Aug; 24, 193 7.

J. A. STROTHER ET AL TAX STAMP PRINTING DEVICE Filed June 4, 1936 4Sheets-Sheet 4 TER lo. 73 5 A STAEE TAX g I Pm o 1 a INVENTORS J'ohnAfntrother. Wilham FTBe/wart, Tr.

ZQWAQ.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 24, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TAX STAMP PRINTINGDEVICE Application June 4, 1936, Serial No. 83,432

10 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for printing tax stamp impressionsupon articles and more particularly to the printing of tax stamps oneach of a plurality of packages such as packages containing cigarettes,while the same are contained in their original packing cartons orcontainers.

Tax stamps of the adhesive lithographed or decalcomania types are nowapplied directly to packages of cigarettes one at a time. This method ofapplying individual stamps is slow and adds further cost to thecommodity. Further, the distributor who purchases said tax stamps isfaced with the hazard of loss by various causes such as by fire, theft,mutilation, etc., and the State or municipality issuing same is facedwith possible loss by repeated use in such instances where the adhesiveor sticker type of stamps are used, due to the ease with which the samemay be removed.

In the device of the present invention, it is an object to provide meanswhereby a tax stamp is adapted to be imprinted upon one surface of eachof a plurality of packages or the like during one cycle of machineoperation, such as for example on the Cellophane wrappers of each of aplurality of packages of cigarettes while they remain in their originalcartons.

A further object of this invention is to provide a portable registeringdevice which is adapted to register the value of or number ofimpressions taken during each cycle of machine operation, which registeris adapted to be set by an authorized ofiicial for a prepaid amount ofstamp impressions.

A further object is to provide a lookout mechanism which is adapted tocooperate with the printing and registering members to prevent furtheroperation of the machine after a predetermined number of impressionshave been made.

Coincident with these objects the device of this invention will save theState or municipality which issues the tax stamps, the cost of printingthe stamps and other costs involved in storage and distribution. Alsothe printing of the impression on the package provides a tax stamp whichcannot be fraudulently removed for the purpose of repeated use.

A further object is to provide means whereby each impression on theseveral packages of the group is different in some respect to therebymake the stamps diflicult to counterfeit.

Another object is to provide means whereby a continuous pattern ordesign willresult from the completed impressions over the entire surfaceof the several packages of a group which would be difiicult to reproduceby the printing of impressions upon single packages, tothereby providefurther means for the detection of counterfeit stamp impressions.

A still further object is to provide means whereby the packages may beidentified for their own particular individual design characteristics bymeans of .a numeral or other code design designating a numeral or thelike; also means whereby the packages may be identified with regard tothe distributor and the date of making the particular stamp impressions.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being understood that various changes in theprecise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made withinthe scope of what isclaimed without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

A preferred embodiment of the invention'is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, wherein;

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a container of cigarette packageswith the upper surface opened to exposed the ends of each of thepackages contained therein and further showing a tax stamp imprintedupon each of said packages;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the machine Which is utilized to imprintthe tax stamps upon the cigarette packages; 7

Fig. 3 is an end sectional view taken on the line 3-4 of Fig. 2; v 1

' Fig. 4 is a plan view of the machine withparts broken away as shown inFig. 2; I I

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the printing member in the act ofprinting stamped impressionsupon the ends of the cigarette packages;

Fig. 6 is a. vertical sectional view showing the printing drum andconveyor also the lockout mechanism which is associated with theregister; 9 Fig. 7 is a plan view showing the several packages of agroup in the particular formation they would assume in a carton orcontainer, each of said packages having a modified arrangement ofprinted impressions thereon with each oi;- the individual stampimpressions possessing some differing characteristic from the others andthe whole presenting a. continuous pattern .orv de; Sig v I Fig. 8 is afront view on an enlarged scale of the rotary printing die which isprovided to produce the printed impression shown in Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary detail view of a part of the printing drum diesurface looking in the direction of the arrow 9 of Fig. 8; and

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary plan view showing a portion of the packagearrangement of Fig. 7 but including a modified arrangement of the stampimpressions.

The machine which is utilized to perform the printing operation anddescribed herein is now commonly used in imprinting postagev stampimpressions upon mail matter and is substantially the same as a machinedisclosedin U. S. Letters Patent 1,874,073. In said patent, certain ofthe details of machine structure will be foun'djtherefore only suchparts which affect the operation of the particular device of thisinvention with regard to the machine structure will be described in thisspecification.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the machine generally comprises two units,a-base unit indicated at B, and a detachable unitindicated at D.

Associated with the base unit is a housingwithin which is containedapower drive and clutch mechanism for use when the machine is to beelectrically driven, which parts are not. illustrated in connection withthe particular machine disclosed herein but which may be found in U S.Letters Patent No. 1,995,577. The machine disclosed is the hand operatedtype.

Secured to said base B is a platform H which is supported by suitablebrackets 52 and l2a, the said bracket 12 being secured directly to thebase unit while the bracket |2a is secured to a bracket I! which issupported by means of a channel member l3 extending outwardly from thebase unit.

A conveyor is provided as best shown in Fig. 2, which comprises a linkchain structure l4 po sitioned at each side of the platform, as shown inFigs. 3 and 6, and is supported on pairs of sprocket wheels 55 and H3.The sprocket wheels I5 are supported by the brackets I! while thesprocket wheels l6 are supported on suitable brackets l8 secured to thebase B, there being a shaft [9 for the sprockets I4 and a shaft for thesprockets l6. Three cross-pins are provided in equally spaced apartpositions between said chains and are adaptedfor use in movingcontainers, which contain the articles to be printed, along the platformthrough a print ing position, as will be hereinafter described.

A suitable casing 22 is provided as shown in Fig. 3 to enclose theconveyor and is preferably formed with an inclined portion 23, the righthand end of which terminates over the pin 2| which is in position tocontact with and move the container when in the position shown in Fig.2. Two side guides 24-24 project vertically upward from the casing 22which are adapted to prevent lateral displacement of the 1, container 30as it is being conveyed along theplatform. A channel shaped structure isalso provided at 25 and is supported on a bracket 26 fixed to the baseB, which structure provides a receptacle or guide at the discharge endof. the machine to receive the container after a printing operation iscompleted. I

, In the detachable unit D there iscontained a printing drum 21, whichis mounted upon a drum shaft 28, and has supported on the peripherythereof aplurality of stamp printing dies 29. Said shaft 28 is mountedin suitable bearings 3 l-3l and has a spiral gear 32 secured thereonwhich is adapted to mesh with another spiral gear 33, said latter gearbeing mounted upon a shaft 34, suitably supported in bearings carried bythe casing of said detachable unit.

A crank handle 35 is secured to the outer end of said shaft 34, which isadapted to be rotated by an operator to rotate the drum shaft throughone revolution? "A thumb'controlled stop actuating lever 36 is'alsoprovided which is adapted to be released to start the movement of thehandle and upon reaching the end of a full revolution,-said stop memberwill again be in the path of the handle to stop same in a manner whichrwill be hereinafter more fully described.

Aspur'gear'fl mounted on the inner end of. said shaft 28, adjacent theprinting drum 21, is adapted to'be rotated with the drum shaft, and

throughthegeantrain drive indicated by the gears 38, 39 and 40, theconveyor C is also driven simultaneously with the drum shaft. Said gears38 and 39 are mounted on shafts 38a and 390. respectively, which shaftsare suitably supported in bearings carried by the casing of the detachable unit. .Gear 40 is secured to the shaft 20 to which the sprocketwheels iii are secured.

It will be seen that, upon rotation of the shaft 34, by means of thehandle 35. the spiral gear drive 32 and. 33-will be rotated to drive thedrum shaft-28 and printing drum 27. Also by means of this drive, thesprocket wheels 16 will be rotated in a clockwise direction to move theconveyor to the right-as indicated in Fig. 2, a distance sufficient tobring the conveyor cross-pin 2|, which is shown in positionon the upperchain,

around to the position of the second pin shown on the outside .of thesprocket I6. By means of this movement the container 30, when placed inthe positionshown-in Fig. 2, is moved along the platform ll past andbeyond the printing drum, to the position indicated in dot and dashlines within the channel member 25 of. Fig. 2.

The container shown in Fig. 1 represents the common form of. cigarettecarton, within which is. contained ten individual packages of cigarettesP,-wit h the upper-end of said container open to expose the ends of eachof the said ten packages. Thesaid packagesP also are preferably of theCellophane covered type and a stamp imprint is made directly upon theCellophane. i I

To perform a tax printing operation upon each i of these packages whilein the container, the operator first opens the normally sealed flaps ofthe upper end of the container to present said container as shown inFig. 1, then places the container into position for a conveying andprint- 1 ing operation by sliding said container along the inclinedsurface 23 and moving same between the side guide members 2424 tofinally seat it upon the platform ll with the left hand end thereofresting against the cross-pin 2| which is in the driving position shownin Fig. 2.

' The handle 35 is then. rotated through one revolutionrwhereupon thecontainer 30 is moved forward by the conveyor C and, upon the approachof the first packages of cigarettes in the container to' a printingposition, the leading printing dies on the printing drum will havereached theprinting position shown in Fig. 5 to perform a printing.operation, which operation is repeated for each of the succeedingpackages of cigarettes as the conveyor moves the container alongftheplatform.

On each rotation of the printing drum the printing dies 29 are inkedbyan ink roller 43 which is positioned adjacent the printing drum at oneside thereof.

- The dies are also fully protected by means of a drum housing 44 and adie guard 45, positioned at the lower open end of said housing toprevent persons from tampering with the printing dies and to prevent thetaking of fraudulent impressions from a die. The dies are almostentirely enclosed within the .interior of the drum housing and dieguard, there being one restricted opening 46 in said die guard throughwhich the dies project as they move to a printing position during eachmachine cycle of operation.

Also associated with this machine is a counting device or registeringmechanism indicated in Figs. 4 and 6 which comprises a descendingcounter 41 and an ascending or total counter 43 each of which countersare of the straight geneva operated type, provided with a units wheeldrive.

Each of the units wheels are driven by means of gears 49-49, one ofwhich is driven by means of a counterdrive gear 5i. Said gear 5! ismounted upon a shaft 52 which shaft is adapted to be driven by means ofa worm gear 53 also fixed to said shaft 52. Suitable bearings areprovided for the support of the shaft 52 in the casing of the detachableunit. Said worm gear 53 is adapted to be driven by means of a worm 55which is mounted upon the drum shaft 28 and upon each revolution of saiddrum shaft, the worm 55 is adapted to drive the worm gear 53 thedistance of one tooth space to thereby add one unit in the ascending ortotal counter 2-8 and substract one unit in the subtracting counter Al.Upon each operation of the machine therefore, one unit will be recordedin the registering mecha nism for each of the ten imprints which aremade upon the ten packages of cigarettes. If it is desired to obtain anaccumulated value reading of each of the dies, the worm and worm wheel55 and 53 may be substituted with two spiral gears similar to gears32-33 for example or may be altered in any other manner to provide therequired rotation of the worm gear 53.

a.) Before a machine is placed in operation, the detachable unit may betaken to an authorized official, in the State tax department, or aninspector may call to set the subtracting register to a certainpredetermined value indicating the 50 number of operations or cycles themachine will be permitted to perform, which setting is either paid forat the time the said register is set or -a bond may be posted for thevalue of the amount set. The said subtracting register may to be set forexample to 1000 which would permit the machine to be operated onethousand times to print a total number of ten thousand stamps upon thepackages,

After the ten thousand imprints or stamps 60 have been taken, thedescending counter will then have reached the zero position on all ofits dials or counter wheels and the machine will automatically lock outto prevent further operation thereof until the subtracting register isagain reset by the authorized official. Entrance to the register forresetting is had through a normally sealed door I! hin ed at 12andsealed by a lead seal as indicated at 13, Fig. 2.

To look out the said machine after the exhaus- 7 tion thereof, means isprovided which comprises a-locking comb 56, pivotally mounted at5l on a"suitable stud, which comb is adapted to be moved, bymeans of a springmember 53, into openings provided in the register'wheels upon 7 reachingthe zero position. A forked'arm 59,. ex-

tending outward from said locking comb'in the direction opposite saidcomb, is engaged with a pin Blprojecting from one arm of a rocker member62. Another arm 63 of said rocker memthe rocker-member62 to be rockedina manner which will bringthe end of the arm 63 into the path of acollar 64. The said collar 54 is. fixed 'upon a shaft 65, which shaftisslidably mounted within suitable bearings -66 and also has securedthereto the previously mentioned stop actuating lever 36 which isassociated with the handle35.

Said lever 36 is arranged in such manner that upon rocking samebackward, the shaft will be moved to the left, from the position asshown in Fig. 4, to remove the end of said shaft 65 from the path of thearm or handle 35, said movement beingprovided by means of a camstructure in dicated at 61 in cooperation with a pin 68 in the shaft 65which is adapted to engage with said cam structure 61 as the shaft isrotated or rocked by the stop actuating lever 36. The shaft 65 is thusmoved sideward'against the pressure of a compression spring 69 which isarranged between the collar 64 and the end of a bearing ,66. Thisendwise or sliding motion of the shaft 65 may be continued by actuationof the stop actuating lever 38 as long as the end 63 of the rockermember 62 remains in the normal operating position shown in Fig. 6. Whenthe locking comb 6'5 moves to a locking position however, the end ofthey arm 63 will move to a position behind the. col

lar 64 to block any further movement thereof, which will thus cause theouter end of the shaft 65 to remain in the path of the handle .35 toblock any operation thereof.

It will thus be seen that after a predetermined number of stamps havebeen imprinted or upon said counters reaching their zero position, the

machine will lock out and thereby prevent further printing operationsuntil the detachable unit is returned to the proper officialforresetting;

While the machine disclosed is of the hand operated crank handle type itwill be understood that the electrically actuated type of machinedisclosed in the aforesaid Letters Patent No. 1,995,577 may be,utilized.

It is also desirable with a. device of this charactertoprovidem'eanswhereby the counterfeiting of tax stamps ismade most difficult. Toaccomplish this the printing drum will be provided with a die surfacewhich will produce an impression or result substantially as shown inFig. 7 wherein. each stamp impression will'have: somedistinctivedifference with respect to every other tax stamp on each ofthe packages in the carton or container. This difference may be had forexample, by placing each tax stamp in a different position as indicatedin Fig. 7-. Further the printing die will be engraved'to contain aseries'of line printingsurfaces to produce continuous cross hatchingbetween the stamp dies and to produce a complete continuous pattern overthe entire surface of all of theends of said packages.

Each tax stamp'die oneach package will also be. provided withsomedesignating symbol such.

as as'eries of consecutivenumerals to thereby definitely iden-tify.- theparticular package with regard to the order in which it should be placedjinz-the-complete group of packages to have the -entire;;=designcomplete or ,toldentify the particiii) ular pack with regard to theposition of its stamp.

By means of this arrangement it will be obvious that attempts tocounterfeit the stamp impressions, such as by making individual rubberstamps for example, to imprint tax stamps on individual packages will beextremely difhcult if not impossible. For example, if individual stampimpressions were made for each of a group of packages, it would bepractically impossible to get a continuity of design of the crosshatched lines.

The proper result could only be accomplished by duplicating the type ofprinting structure used in the device of this invention. But toforestall any success of a counterfeiter who may have the properprinting equipment, further steps are carried out in the. system of thisinvention which comprises the printing of a date on at least one of eachgroup of packages also a meter or permit number such as indicated on thepackages numbered 2 and 1 respectively. The said date and meter numbermay be repeated upon other packages if desired.

By means of the inclusion of a date designating the day'on which the taxstamps were printed upon the packages, also the meter number, aninspector from the tax division would be provided with ample means tocheck for possible counterfeit tax stamps. For instance, the inspectormay walk into the store of any retailer or dealer and look at the. taxstamps in an open carton of cigarettes, then compare the date and themeter number with a record which is provided by the distributor whoprinted the tax stamps. If the date on the record and the date on thegroup of packages are not in agreement, this would be sufiicientevidence to assume. that the tax stamps were counterfeit.

It will be obvious that with the above described system attempts atcounterfeiting could be quickly discovered and for this reason shoulddiscourage the counterfeiting of tax stamps.

The changes required in the structure of the device previously describedwould comprise a modified form of printing drum such as indicated at 21ain Fig. 8 which would include two rows of printing dies arranged in astaggered relation as indicated at 2900 also a series of line printingtype surfaces indicated at 21b. The type for printing the date wouldpreferably comprise an adjustable date wheel structure which consists ofa series of individually adjustable date wheels rotatably mounted on asuitable shaft 16 and supported in suitable bearings TI. The meternumber may be engraved as a pai't of the printing die structure or maybe included as a removable type slug as indicated at 19.

In the illustration shown in Fig. 7, the individual tax stamps are eachplaced in a different position on the packs with cross hatched linesbetween the stamps and a designating number for each. stamp, which isthe impression as made with the printing die structure illustrated inFig. 8.

In the illustration shown in Fig. 10, a modified arrangement is shown,wherein the stamps are placed in a symmetrical relation at the center ofeach package with the cross-hatched lines between the stamp impressions.To provide a different design for each stamp when the stamps are in asymmetrical position, a varying number of stars as indicated at 18 willbe included in the design, with the number of stars agreeing with theparticular stamp number.

While the designs shown illustrate preferred arrangements to illustratethe principle of providing for protection against counterfeiting stampimpressions, it will be understood that the said arrangements are forthe purpose of illustration only and that other arrangements of designmay also be made to come within the principle of having a differentdesign on each one of a group of packages the whole of which is adaptedto be printed from a single die surface during one printing cycle ofoperation. 1

It will be understood also that the invention may be embodied in otherspecific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributesthereof and it is therefore desired that the present embodiment beconsidered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive,reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoingdescription to indicate the scope of the invention.

Having described this invention, we claim:

1. In a device. for printing a tax stamp upon each one of a plurality ofpackages of cigarettes, a container having one side open to expose onesurface of each of the packages contained therein, a one revolutionprinting member having a plurality of tax stamp printing dies thereonagreeing in number with the packages of cigarettes, means to supportsaid container in a printing position, and means whereby each of theprinting dies may be moved into printing engagement with the packages ofcigarettes in each container during one revolution of the printingmember to print a stamp on each package.

2. In a device for printing a tax stamp upon each one of a containerfull of ten packages of cigarettes, said container having one side opento expose one surface of each of the packages contained therein, a onerevolution rotary printing member having a plurality of tax stampprinting dies thereon agreeing in number with the number of packages inthe container, a support for said container, means to move the containerthrough a printing position, and means whereby, upon one completerevolution of the printing member each of the printing dies will moveinto printing engagement with the packages of cigarettes.

3. In a device for printing a tax stamp upon each one of a predeterminednumber of a group of articles and registering the value of each stampduring 'one cycle of machine operation, a one revolution rotary printingmember having a plurality of value and indicia printing dies agreeing innumber with the number of articles in the group, means to move the groupof articles to an impression receiving position during the onerevolution printing cycle of operation, and register ing means operableto register the accumulated value of the printed impressions.

4. In a device for printing stamps upon packages while arranged in agrouped position such as when arranged in their original containers, anda printing member having a plurality of stamp printing dies thereonincluding means for printing stamp impressions upon each of the packagesin the group in a single printing cycle of operation with eachindividual stamp impression different.

5. In a device for printing tax stamps upon packages while arranged in agrouped position such as when arranged in their original containers, anda printing member having a plurality of stamp printing dies thereonincluding a printing surface for producing a completely matched patternover the whole group of packages.

6. In a device for printing tax stamps upon packages while contained intheir normal position within a container, and a printing member having aplurality of stamp printing dies thereon with each stamp die includingmeans for printing a different identifying characteristic for each stampimpression.

'7. In a device for printing tax stamp impressions upon a group ofpackages of cigarettes while retained in their original packing cartons,the combination with a meter unit having registering means associatedtherewith and means to limit the number of printing operations; of a onerevolution rotary drum associated with said meter unit having valueprinting dies thereon equal in number to the number of packages ofcigarettes, means to provide for a single rota tion of said drum as eachcarton is moved therepast, and a conveyor to move the carton through aprinting position while the drum is rotated, whereby groups of stampimpressions are adapted to be printed and registered during eachrotation of the rotary drum.

8. The combination with a printing machine having means for registeringand limiting the number of printed impressions which may be made; of aone revolution rotary printing memher having ten printing dies thereon,a container having ten articles therein with each article arranged toreceive a printed impression during the one revolution of the printingmember, and means to convey the container past the printing member whenthe printing drum is rotated,

whereby each group of ten articles will have impressions printed thereonand registered during each revolution of the printing drum.

9. The combination with a printing machine having a settable registeringdevice and means controlled by said registering device to limit thenumber of printing operations; of a multiple die rotary printing memberwith said dies possessing some characteristic wherein they differ onefrom another, a container having a plurality of articles therein withone surface of each article exposed to the printing member, and aconveyor to move said container past and in timed relation to theprinting member, whereby a predetermined number of groups of impressionsmay be imprinted upon said articles with the individual impressions ofeach group differing in some degree but with the impressions of eachsuccessive group being arranged in the same order.

10. The combination with a machine for printing stamp impressions uponpackages of cigarettes, including means to register the number ofimpressions printed, and machine lockout mechanism associated with saidregister means; of a one revolution rotary printing drum having two rowsof printing dies with five printing dies in each row, a container havingten packages of cigarettes arranged in two rows of five each and intheir original packing positions, a supporting platform for saidcontainer having means to guide the packages into an aligned printingposition with respect to the printing dies, and a conveyor to move saidcontainer through a printing position.

JOHN A. STRO'I'HER. WILLIAM F. BERNART, JR.

